Evaluating the reliability, validity and minimally important difference of the Taiwanese version of the diabetes quality of life (DQOL) measurement.
BACKGROUND
Few diabetes HRQOL instruments are available in Chinese language. We tested psychometric properties of a Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL) in Chinese language for diabetes patients in Taiwan and estimated its minimally important differences (MIDs).


METHODS
Data were collected from 337 patients treated in diabetes clinics of a Taiwan teaching hospital. Pearson's correlations among domain scores of the DQOL (satisfaction, impact, and worry), the D-39S (a diabetes-specific instrument, including domains of diabetes control, energy and mobility, social burden and anxiety and worry, and sexual functioning) and the RAND-12 (a generic instrument, including physical health composite (PHC) and mental health composite (MHC)) were estimated to determine convergent/discriminant validity. Known-groups validity was examined using 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose (2 h PPG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)) and presence of complications (retinopathy, neuropathy, and diabetic foot complications rather than the known groups of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications). We used a combined anchor- and distribution-based approach to establish MIDs.


RESULTS
The DQOL scores were more strongly correlated with the physical domains of the D-39S (diabetes control and energy and mobility) and RAND-12 PHC than psychological domains of the D-39S (social burden, anxiety and worry, and sexual functioning) and RAND-12 MHC. The DQOL showed satisfactory discriminative ability for the known groups of 2 h PPG and HbA1c (effect size (ES) > or = 0.2) and retinopathy, neuropathy, and diabetic foot complications (ES > or = 0.3), but less satisfactory for the known groups of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications. MIDs for the DQOL domains were 3-5 points for satisfaction, 4-5 points for impact, 6-8 points for worry, and 3-4 points for overall HRQOL.


CONCLUSIONS
We validated a DQOL in Chinese language for diabetes patients in Taiwan and provided MIDs to facilitate the measure of diabetes HRQOL.
Huang
I-Chan
IC
Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. ichuang@ufl.edu
Liu
Jung-Hua
JH
Wu
Albert W
AW
Wu
Ming-Yen
MY
Leite
Walter
W
Hwang
Chyng-Chuang
CC
D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D002681:China; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin